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Get Back Up

What a crazy week it has been! I’ve been in 6Sigma training for the 4th week and last one. I’ve been really struggling with trying to fit all aspects of my life, so the lowest priorities tend to fall out. This week, I only wrote once on the FamMijangos.com blog, and failed to take 2 pictures during the week.

I thought that at any time I failed to take pictures I would just give up the whole project, but I like taking these images. I’m not great, but I do believe I’ve been getting better. Very far from having a style, but I’m starting to prefer a few things over others. Definitely struggle taking pictures of people, I’m not good at looking at the details so faces move or give up on an image. I do like landscapes, urban landscapes, some architecture, and just random things I find as I walk on the streets. I wish I could be better at journalistic images.

Photo Challenge Week 13

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Feeling the Crunch

This week I’ve felt how the demands of life have influenced my ability to write and take pictures. My mind has been preoccupied with statistics and projects so I’ve been more eager to do that than to write. But I’m still able to write, and I guess the crunch pushes me to photo edit and write faster.

Last night I spoke with my dad and he was telling me about his childhood. He was telling me that all these images from when he was younger are all coming back to him, and he is writing more. He also feels sad for the things he can’t remember.

This is the reason I write on the blog, to make sure that we remember those things that are going on in our lives. That small window to the world is also the way we record our lives and who we are choosing to be remembered.

Photo Challenge Week 12

 

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Numbers Talking

Views per Month

Number of PostsViews and visitors are not the focus of my blog, but boy how I love to see the graphs. I find myself hitting the refresh on the “Stats” page over and over, especially if I published something that day. There is something magical about publishing something, posting it on facebook and seeing people come to the site. There is excitement in having something meaningful being read by others.

December was a record month, and then February broke the record again with over 650 views. And I know all this is small potatoes to most sites, but this is my baby. As I look at the numbers, when I post something on facebook people come, sometimes new posts bring people, sometimes old posts on Thursdays bring people to the site. Small posts are good, videos are better; things I know, but so hard to produce.

The main thing, the real cause to this bigger numbers is really that I’ve been publishing 2 posts every week and doing a #TBT on Thursdays, it’s just having new content and opening that window to our home. I’m happy that I have this window, where we can share out happy moments and our sad times.

As you can see from the number of posts on the left, and the views on top; the more I write the more people come to the site; and that makes me want to write more, and happy that I’m doing it.

Photo Challenge Week 11

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Update 10: On Writing

From this point on, I will not include which Update I’m doing, it has been 10 weeks of posting, and you and I understand that this is happening, consistently. This consistency is what has really stretched me this year. 10 Weeks, 3 posts per week (2 on the Main Site and 1 here) very consistently.

My mind keeps coming back to this post from Gina Trapani about her new rules of blogging. I too put new rules at that time—Just Write. This year I’ve also put in a goal to write more often, flexing the muscle; and I’ve used this particular space to just fill it with my thought of the week. A Meta Blog for FamMijangos.com

Had it not been for this setup, I don’t think I would have written some of the posts. Having that deadline is just moves you to think of your week, the experiences, that might even seem trivial are the ones that shape you.

I see things differently, they make me to pause and reflect how I understand them. I find myself being somewhat in a reminiscent state. Are my reactions based strictly on what I see or are they linked to things from my past. This week I wrote on my girl’s love for tying her stuffed animals with blankets, and how I love to help her with that. I went back to the time I was in Scouts and my love of knots.

I enjoy writing about these things, not long posts, not the 1,000 word description of a vacation which I want to do; but are not the most enjoyable. I’ve found that posts between 200 and 300 words are enjoyable, deep enough, and fast enough to write.

Check out the new template for the 365 Photo Challenge:

Photo Challenge Week 10